In his satirical essay, "A Modest Proposal," Jonathan Swift proposes the consumption of children to draw attention to the fact that other viable solutions for addressing Ireland's economic issues are being disregarded. Swift suggests that a country's most pressing problems arise from the avarice of the affluent. He conveys this message through his careful selection of words, use of satire, and establishment of ethos. The author employs diction to suggest that the wealthiest individuals are responsible for a nation's most significant issues. Swift's use of formal yet derogatory language reflects his own perspective on how the rich perceive the poor. He refers to his plan as a "scheme," despite criticizing "several schemes of other projectors" (Swift 4). This is one of the first indications that even Swift dislikes his idea, which is aggressively supported by the wealthy who stand to gain financially. Words such as "sacrificing.innocent" and "crucified" depict a brutal death, typically in exchange for something that will benefit the greater good, such as Christ or a soldier dying while rescuing a child in a bombed area (5 and 18). However, in this case, Swift explains that the rich will unfeelingly allow the poor to suffer unspeakable deaths to make enough profit to account for the "expensiveness of [their] idleness (28)." His use of belittling language through words like "savages" and "reserved for breed" highlights the condescending way in which the upper class views the masses (10). These words portray them as little more than uncivilized animals to be sold at the market, which, through his proposal, would become a reality....
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...Swift cites "a very knowing American of his acquaintance in London" who has "assured" Swift that a young child is "nourishing and wholesome," thereby providing more support for his proposal (9). Swift also references the "famous Psalmansar, a native of the island of Famosa," as well as the "principal gentleman in the country of Cavan" within his essay (18 and 6). Swift's use of ethos assures the reader that there are people other than him who concur with his ideas. Ethos helps to give readers a sense of security, a "Hey, if he likes it, it must be good" type of mentality. However, when scrutinized, one will notice that all those Swift cites are presumably wealthy people of the upper class. The essay contains no ethos from those of the lower class. Thus, in effect, Swift's use of ethos also slyly places blame and reproach on the greed of the wealthy while also increasing the validity of his argument. Swift's use of diction, satire, and ethos asserts that the gluttony of the wealthy causes significant problems for a nation.
The main rhetorical challenge of this ironic essay is capturing the attention of an audience. Swift makes his point negatively, stringing together an appalling set of morally flawed positions in order to cast blame and criticize
Swift wants his readers to interpret his speaker as a kindhearted, sensible gentleman with a sincere concern for resolving problems for the Irish people. In the first eight paragraphs, the reader meets an affectionate man with precise insight into the predicament he will shortly address. By doing this, the speaker establishes himself up as someone who would not make an outrageous proposition. This makes his words even more effective.
The essay “A Modest Proposal” written by Johnathan Swift takes a satirical view on how to solve the starvation issue in Ireland. Swift suggests an obviously satirical solution of eating children around the age of one. He used irony, ambiguity, and ethos to emphasize the satirical nature of the essay and present a captivating idea to the audience.
Therefore, before an analysis can continue, one has to make the assumption that this is strictly a fictional work and Swift had no intention of pursuing his proposal any further. One of the other voices that is present throughout the entire story is that of sarcasm. In order to understand this further, a reader has to comprehend that Swift, becoming infamous after Gullivers Travels, was a member of the upper-class. Right from the first paragraph, Swift attempts to fool his readers by the sarcasm of the dreary scene that Swift presents. For example, he mentions that it is a melancholy sight to see beggars and their children on the street.
Swift supports Puchner’s theme of a lack of individuality which conveys how humans are losing their humanity by using Ireland’s economic issue which forces the poor to conform to the idea of selling their babies. Swift’s story, “A Modest Proposal”, is intriguing due to the fact that he uses Irelands misfortune to suggest a way to bounce back from this economic crisis which so happens to be eating kids from poor parents who couldn’t afford to raise it. In “A Modest Proposal” Swift states that “I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for Landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the Parents, seem to have the best Title to the Children” (Swift 33). For Swift growing up in Ireland, he
In 1729, Jonathan Swift published a pamphlet called “A Modest Proposal”. It is a satirical piece that described a radical and humorous proposal to a very serious problem. The problem Swift was attacking was the poverty and state of destitution that Ireland was in at the time. Swift wanted to bring attention to the seriousness of the problem and does so by satirically proposing to eat the babies of poor families in order to rid Ireland of poverty. Clearly, this proposal is not to be taken seriously, but merely to prompt others to work to better the state of the nation. Swift hoped to reach not only the people of Ireland who he was calling to action, but the British, who were oppressing the poor. He writes with contempt for those who are oppressing the Irish and also dissatisfaction with the people in Ireland themselves to be oppressed.
In eighteenth century Ireland, the nation was in a famine and an epidemic of poverty due to the high prices of land and food. Jonathan Swift saw a problem, so he wrote and spread what we call today, A Modest Proposal. Swift’s essay is satirical. He exaggerates and gives inaccurate statistics to deliver a thesis that runs deeper than the explicit one about eating babies. While much of the essay seems to imply that Swift’s persona eats babies, there are some instances where Jonathan hints at the ironic themes of the writing.
...lready devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children.” He tried to make the parents realize that the present they are living in will become the future of their children. Swift’s use of these appeals helped his audience to take such a ridiculous proposal as something serious. If one could see through the veil created by all the sarcasm and satirical diction they would see a man who only wants to aid his nation in its time of need
Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal is a shocking satire that discusses the dire poverty in Ireland. It says if one is born poor, they will stay that way unless society puts them to use. Children are food to be eaten. In an economic slump, children will be used to feed and clothe Ireland’s population. Swift’s purpose for writing A Modest Proposal was to call attention to the exploiting and oppressing by the English to the Irish.
In Jonathan Swift’s satire, “A Modest Proposal”, Swift writes about the starving people of Ireland in the early 1700’s. He makes a wild and absurd proposal to help remedy the problems of overpopulation and poverty. Swift wants to make a political statement by using the “children” as satire to grasp the attention of the audience - the English people, the Irish politicians and the rich – and make them aware of the political, moral, and social problems. In “A Modest Proposal”, Swift’s arguments are presented effectively by using pathos (emotional appeal), ethos (ethics and values), and logos (logic reasoning and facts).
Humor can come in many different forms. Many people are aware of the blatant humor of slapstick, but it takes a keener mind to notice the subtle detail in sarcasm or satire. In A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift was able to create a piece of literature addressing the faults of the Irish culture while embedding in a humorous essay. Swift’s satire allows for the gravity of the Irish standings to be exploited under the disguise of a proposal for economic benefit.
This essay by Jonathan Swift is a brutal satire in which he suggests that the poor Irish families should kill their young children and eat them in order to eliminate the growing number of starving citizens. At this time is Ireland, there was extreme poverty and wide gap between the poor and the rich, the tenements and the landlords, respectively. Throughout the essay Swift uses satire and irony as a way to attack the indifference between classes. Swift is not seriously suggesting cannibalism, he is trying to make known the desperate state of the lower class and the need for a social and moral reform in Ireland.
Jonathan Swift, a well-known author, in his essay “A Modest Proposal,” implies that the Irish people should eat children so that they can better their chances of survival. Swift supports his implication by describing how his proposal will have many advantages such as, eliminating papists, bringing great custom to taverns, and inducing marriages. He comes up with an absurd proposal to eat and sell the children to the elite so the Irish can have a brighter future. His purpose is to show that the Irish deserve better treatment from the English. Throughout his essay, Swift uses sarcasm, satire, and irony.
The Writings of Jonathan Swift; Authoritative Texts, Backgrounds, Criticism. edited by Robert A. Greenberg and William Bowman Piper. Norton Critical Editions. New York: Norton, 1973.
Throughout the book, Swift's usage of satire brings to light how in the 18th and 19th century the English society was morally, socially, and politically corrupted. Swift makes it clear that every normal person wants to be concerned with honor, gratitude, common sense, and kindness, but on the contrary human intentions are always strayed into a wrong path.